The attention to detail in those elderly bat ladies is amazing, the fact they are singing actually lore about the world in a language that few are going to understand, it's just beautiful.
@@cutcutado Nos, destinatae matribus, nunc fiunt turpes. Ploarvimus lacrimavimusque sed nemo nos consolatur. Aureum, cui irascebaris? We, betrothed destined to be mothers, now become tarnished. We have lamented and we have shed tears but no one consoles us. Golden One, at whom you were angry?
When I first got to Leyndell and heard the bubble enemies using the trumpets, It made me feel like I arrived to a city of heaven, with angels blowing their horns
Haha I felt the opposite the trumpets sounded cacophonous and the freaks blowing them deformed. It's great that the game can elicit two different reactions.
I love how for the merchants playing, the fingering is actually reasonable. Also it sounds like they had the performer play a little sloppy on purpose for the recording. The vibrato sounds really confident to me but they're definitely letting the bow wander and jitter on purpose. In general, I love all the musical NPCs in this game. I always feel the need to go investigate faint music in the distance.
the vibrato and them lifting the bow is what seals it for me. a lot of animators would animate the fingering, but not many would actually bother to do the rest.
The saddest of these is by far the Frenzied Flame Merchant's song, which is ironic since of the tunes its actually almost a happy one, but you find the guy hidden down in the deepest depths below the sewers of the capital, sealed behind a stone door guarded by an evil blood mage, with all the merchant's closest friends, family and companions either dead or insane around him and his own mind inches away from its last dregs of sanity, clinging to the very last vestige of joy he held in his final moments before he and all his people were cruelly buried alive for heresy. Also interesting to hear a song in English in the form of Renalla's sweetings, been looking for a version of that for ages! Thanks for this upload.
One of the interesting things about it is that the mage protecting the secret of the merchants’ is a clone of Mohg himself! Does anyone know the reason he’s here as well?
It’s cool to see Fromsoft experiment with music like this, the use of different languages and tunes is really awesome and gives that authenticity of a real world with varying languages and cultures.
@@thesaviorofsouls5210 Shrine of Amana! . Hot take, but i always loved that area and its one of my favorites in all of soulsborne... dont know why people hate it so much
The imprisoned merchant song is extremely haunting, finding that area spontaneously in my first playthrough was insane in general, I never expected to find what i found down there, let alone everything it would entail
I was extremely creeped out when I first entered that place. I had never expected a tomb, littered with the corpses of a caravan frozen in madness, with a violin straight from a horror game in the background. It was unlike anything I have seen in any other soulsgame.
It brought up some very uncomfortable recollections of learning about the history of the Holocaust and the imagery associated with that. Considering how the merchants themselves are a nomadic peoples living within shadows of larger institutions with not real power to back them up aside from their own communities, I think there could be parallels made to Ashkenazi folk and the persecutions they face.
@@thosebloodybadgers8499 There are no parallels here. Elden Ring's lore has absolutely nothing to do with the persecution of the Ashkenazi Jewish people in Europe during the Holocaust or even in previous periods. Also, I think you are conflating between the Ashkenazi Jewish communities in various European countries - that were mostly living in settled communities for most of the time - with the nomadic Gypsies. If anything these nomadic merchants would likely be "inspired" by the European Gypsies for obvious historical and cultural reasons. There's no classic good and evil in the world of Elden Ring, almost everyone with the exception of a few is either grey or outright evil in that world with selfish intentions. The Golden Order is flawed and has made plenty of characters and people in its world suffer for not adhering to its strict tenants but some of those involved in the lore wanted to destroy the world and put something even worse in place, as we see with various characters throughout the game. These merchants - at least based on various hints and items in the game - are no victims and were involved in deliberately summoning the Frenzied flame and that is something that involves all merchants in the game. You can't make a parallel to real history and reality with this game that is a sort of a mix of several mythologies put together.
@@rpgadventurer32 I agree that the connection to Ashkenazi people was somewhat unfounded based on their lack of similarities, either cultural or historical. But I would argue that the g3nocide of the Nomads is too centralized and bears similarities to the treatment of, particularly, but not limited to, Ashkenazi jews in conc3tration camps. I would genuinely speculate that the developers might have modeled the look of the Temple of Frenzy and the Nomads there from the history of Imperial Japan and their war crimes during WW2. I can see such sensitive real world topics being projected onto fiction as being insensitive though, so I agree on that critique. Although, I would also say that the exact nature of connection between the Nomads and the Frenzied Flame is very much so up to interpretation and speculation. Like, I very much see the timeline being the persecution of the Nomads and their g3nocide coming first, them inadvertently summoning the Frenzied Flame as a reaction to all that pain, anger and sorrow being second, and the eventual integration of the Frenzied Flame into the culture of the remaining Nomads coming third.
@@detonate8753 Any nobles really. Those bald guys you see all around, searching for food, patrolling the Lands Between while being very weak? Nobles. As for the pages themselves, the page ashes say: Spirit of a page who traveled at the side of the noble he served. Uses a piercing sword and crossbow to defend his master. One becomes a page merely by accident of being born into obscurity; nothing is asked of ability, talent, or volition.
@@ES21007 Not sure if it coincides with the game lore, but pages in real life tended to be young children or at least start as young children and served/learned under knights. Becoming squires and then hopefully knights themselves.
and then the giant ones say “you call that a horn?” and reply with big fat load of “ *W̴͔̏̕W̴͔̏̕R̶̨̨̖̬̹̥̜̠͎̺̍͐̂R̶̨̨̖̬̹̥̜̠͎̺̍͐̂R̶̨̨̖̬̹̥̜̠͎̺̍͐̂R̶̨̨̖̬̹̥̜̠͎̺̍͐̂A̶̤͍̟̲͓͕͍̼͕͎̽́̒̇͝A̶̤͍̟̲͓͕͍̼͕͎̽́̒̇͝A̶̤͍̟̲͓͕͍̼͕͎̽́̒̇͝Ù̸̺̓̀̓͒͑Ù̸̺̓̀̓͒͑Ù̸̺̓̀̓͒͑G̶̢̨̖͚̜̺̭̥̭͓̾̒̃̃̈̏͋͝G̶̢̨̖͚̜̺̭̥̭͓̾̒̃̃̈̏͋͝H̸̪͊̒G̶̢̨̖͚̜̺̭̥̭͓̾̒̃̃̈̏͋͝H̸̪͊̒G̶̢̨̖͚̜̺̭̥̭͓̾̒̃̃̈̏͋͝H̸̪͊̒H̸̪͊̒H̸̪͊̒H̸̪͊̒N̶͎̫̉̍͘͝N̶͎̫̉̍͘͝* ”
To anyone passing by here, I love reading your comments so much. I wish I could write music for a game like this. If you want to hear some storytelling music, last year I wrote an album titled 'The Untold Story of The Rainmaker', inspired by Dark Souls & Elden Ring. It's been hard to share it with the world due to its narrative nature, that's why I am writing this - but if you have some free time, I'd be so happy to hear your opinions on it. Thank you so much 🤍
The frenzied flame song I heard when I first went into that area literally made me feel the environment around me, it nearly brought me to tears looking at everything on my way down to the bottom.
@@blak_iron_tarkus8899 that plat forming is the reason i burned everything down to the ground even when melina was crying telling me to not inherit the flame
The frenzied flame merchant song is so fucking sad. I just remember being down there and finding the Merchant armor, reading the gear description, looking at what the frenzied flame guys were using as instruments and then it hit me what was actually going on. I literally put my hand over my mouth in a gasp. It’s one of the most stand out moments in the game for me. Those little details are what make FS games so incredible
I had similar reaction on that. Guys for sure didn't deserved what happened to them. But what they did is also dreadfull. Imagine other merchants pain about all of this, I'm not surprised some want to be left alone 😔 Fuck the golden order, Great Tree, Crucible and Omens also didn't deserve for what was done to them...
I really loved coming across the random singing and instrument playing in this game. Sometimes I’d just stop and listen for a bit. Also that merchant song #1 was the only thing keeping me calm after dying repeatedly trying to get down to the three fingers
Same, when I first heard the singing harpy I found a spot to hide that was close to it. And just listened to it sing. I killed the bats around it but let the singer live.
@@aaidenclark165 And I walked right towards the song, oblivious to the danger, then she just jumped me and ate me. I guess... It does a pretty good job at captivating listeners.
I hope in future DLC we get to explore more of the Shaman's religion and lore. They're worshipping a world that existed before the Erdtree existed, and before the Greater Will took over. You even get to fight a couple of ancient godlike beings that are connected to that world. There's a TON of potential there.
@@FLP-gl2on among others the Ancestor Spirit and Regal Ancestor Spirit. The Fire Giant himself is an entity that existed before the current pantheon of gods took over. Mostly anything that has a “Legend” class rating is of the same theme
@@thecrtf4953 I was reading earlier about all the outer gods and other deities and there’s mention of some sort of god being buried under the lake of rot too. DLC has way too much potential, even if it’s just adding some new optional bosses
I love how the frenzied merchant song sounds like straight up JRPG town music, like he's recalling a simpler and kinder time when the world had color and joy in it.
Maybe he's playing to try and calm his surviving friends and family. He's not the only frenzied merchant that's still alive in that wretched place they were buried in. There are a few other survivors and they Instantly become aggressive when they see you. Maybe he's trying to make them recall happy thoughts so they can all take their minds off the pain and horrible suffering they endured. And when you kill them, he just kind of keeps playing. I always felt like the best course of action was to kill him too. Not out of spite or hatred, but out of mercy. He's obviously suffering terribly, it would feel wrong to leave him with the corposes of everyone he once cared about.
The fact that the frenzied flame merchant's song is cheerful, in some band playing while the Titanic is sinking kind of way, while the Nomadic Merchant's song is mournful, because they're probably playing in memory of all their imprisoned breathren, is one of the saddest parts of the whole game.
That's how I interpreted the nomadic merchant's song too, as a lamentful tribute to the Great Caravan, something they'll never get to see or be a part of again.
@@secondpath5148they're kinda influenced by the story of the Exodus. A persecuted people driven from their homelands. They're even wearing traditional Jewish clothing, and have Hebrew names AND they're merchants for fucks sake. It's pretty tragic though. It's even hinted in the game that the nomads were on the receiving end of a genocide. A heavily persecuted people. That's sad 😢
I don't find it cheerful at all, lol. It sounds like the end of a tragedy. That's the vibes I'm getting. His musical tones represent the shit he's in personally. You can definitely feel the emotions of the nomad by listening to his music. And it's sad.
@@secondpath5148I thought if it as more of a remembrance of their brethren that was locked up and killed in the catacombs and their anguish and fury I believe created the frenzied flame (correct me if I’m wrong)
@vergil7776 They were falsely accused of being frenzied flame worshippers due to not being worshippers of the greater will and locked down there. Or they *did* worship the frenzied flame but werent bothering anyone with it. Its up in the air which in the game itself -theres cut content that says they were innocent. Either way, they were branded heretics. And being locked down there in their desperation of starving and going mad (and prolly eating each to survive and other fun stuff) they turned to the frenzied flame they had been accused of worshipping/did worship, and cast a rite to summon its avatar, the three fingers. So the Tarnished who would become Elden Lord could burn the world to ash. Shabriri basically set the whole thing up to get the three fingers in the lands between. He arranged for the merchants to be branded heretics and locked down there. The frenzied flame is the power of madness so ya, sending a bunch of people mad...
The frenzied flame melody never fails to make me shiver, sad and hopeless all at the same time. I also love the fact that you descend in order to meet the three fingers. I guess you could say that it also symbolizes descending into madness
Dude the page's flute song gives me chills, it is so beautiful, I only killed that page once to grab the item, then listened to it from afar after resting!
the moment of randomly stumbling across the frenzied flame dungeom and hearing that first imprisioned merchant's song slowly fade in as i approached actually brought me to tears, like genuinely... it was so haunting along with the rest of the incredibly dark lore surrounding it that i just happened to come across that it stopped me dead in my tracks. elden ring is by far the best fromsoft game, next to bloodborne, in terms of those kinds of perfectly crafted moments of impact and emotional heft, it's insane. ok i'll stop ranting now i just ADORE this game and all of its little design details and moments :')
I wish we'll be able to play instruments in the game itself, like in Mortal Shell where you can play the lute. It would be a neat feature especially if in doing it itself opens new dialogues.
This game is a marvel in sound design : during Renalla's battle, i had to put my earbuds on and look for the lullaby to break her shield, which was an amazing gameplay experience. As for the crones singing in latin, it is one hell of an eerie sight to find an old woman's head on a bat's body singing about lost civilization... As for the merchant, it's like a story that wants you to guess as to why they find themselves into the oddest places (in Nokron?!)
Oh I didn't know you could do that with Rennala so I had to run around and find the one empowering the barrier xD. I'll have to try it if I continue to Ng+
I assume the merchants prefer seclusion because to them, even though the Shattering was a pretty big nail in the Coffin for the Golden Order, there's still the threat of someone that believes they are evil coming to kill or capture them. So hiding in obscure, strange locations gives them a sense of security, even if it isn't the best for business. What better place to go then a place like Nokron? Nobody would ever think to look in an eternal city, sealed deep beneath the ground.
I went and listened to that song and now it's all I can think of. It really does sound like it, and now instead of thinking of Gehrman when I hear it, I'm just going to hear "somebody come get her, she's dancing like a stripper" instead. Thanks for laugh with your comment, I really needed it today.
The attention to detail on the merchants hands as they play is incredible, they way they shake their hands during the vibrato and the accurate finger positions as they play is impressive.
In dark souls 1 there is no music in Landing, only silence and suffering, the music in dark souls 1 speak for the bosses, but in elden ring there are music in land, remembering that in elden ring World, live, joy and hope is not completely lost Sorry for my bad english :c
Indeed there is music. To show that there is peace still roaming in these lands, peace that can be brought back. By standing before the Elden Ring. And become the Elden Lord
The Song of Lament certainly lived up to its name, that jump puzzle was maddening, along with all the stuff you had to do to get down there, but I wish they would have kept Kale's quest so that everything down there would have had more impact.
Absolutely love that they added so much NPC and enemy music to this game; one of my favourite Fromsoft moments ever is delving into the deep corridors of Shulva in DS2 and hearing the song of the priestesses echoing down the halls
Deep in the darkness of Siofra Well I found myself following the song of the merchant #2, not knowing it was even a merchant playing. After many dark corners I finally see him sitting next to his fire almost soothing my nerves as I had been killing many creatures in the darkness. Don't even get me started on the Bat Matrons!
Did anyone else notice that the merchants fingers match up with what they are playing? Like, semi accurately, love how what was a "feature" for cyberpunk guitar playing, is a side note for elden ring
I was suprised when I heard the Shaman song for the first time and the bat lady that is singing in latin. That is why I like about Elden Ring. The amount of random stuff you ran into is just amasing.
Leyndell's song with the trumpets feels ominous, like something is about to happen Edit: I read about them, and yes, the music is just another form of presenting the lore
0:42 The merchant strums his instrument, beckoning to darkness before him, "you're listening to Merchant in the Morning. We've got a classic little tune to start the day out for you. This one goes out to the boys on floor 7." The mad merchants wander the halls below, deafened, blinded, having forgotten even their own names. A few notes waver in the empty air, then the playing stops. The merchant above continues, "Maybe the whole heresy thing will work out next time, eh? Haha, joking. We like to kid around down here." The weary jig picks up once more, as below, the shuffling and gibberish moaning continues unabated.
Translation for Song of Lament (Antonius Tertius on YT, Nyrun from R/Eldenring) and my own interpretation on the bat ladies' lore: "O, that land, formerly blessed, now withered. We'd been destined for motherhood, but now have become disfigured. We wailed and wept. But no one comforts us. Golden One, at whom were you so angry?" Golden One I think is referring to Marika, there is Godwyn the Golden but nothing in the game implies that he was angry at anybody. Marika I assume was devasted and became angry and lashed out against the world (according to Gideon, wanted the Lands to stay in conflict) after losing her first son Marika is also known for having cursed people in the past, so she's likely responsible for the apparent "disfigurement" that the bat ladies refer to. I think she cursed all the would-be mothers in the Lands to become disfigured bat creatures who can't have children. It's her own twisted way of saving them from the sadness of losing a child, by robbing their ability to have one in the first place
the way you can hear the first merchant playing an older and frayed instrument by the way it sounds is so crazy. it’s such a distinctly different sound from the other merchant and i love it.
It looks pretty accurate to me! I don't play violin, but I play guitar and the principles are similar. When he plays the higher notes, he presses his fingers down closer to him (essentially shortening the string, which makes a higher pitch.) When he plays the highest note, he also moves his hand and fingers closest to him. Also, when he repeats the same notes from earlier in the song, he presses down his fingers in the same places.
realistically, there's no way of knowing. there are Japanese instruments that look remotely similar to their fiddle, but none of which are bowed (i don't think) but it does look accurate given the finger placement and bowing
Just by ear, the frenzy one would need to be sped up to fit the time of the normal merchant song. And it would just sound like a rather strange duet when put in the same key. (Frenzy playing harmonies above the minor key merchant song)
My favorite out of all of these is the Page or whatever he’s called with the flute in Leyndell mostly because of the reason he’s playing. Everyone else is either playing for the sake of playing (or to keep themselves sane). This guy though, is sending off his friend or comrade after he died. The capital and land being in such shambles means that a proper burial can’t be made so this is the most respect he can give this poor guy. He was the one enemy in Leyndell that I refused to kill. I just walked past him.
I find the Merchants super sad for some reason… The perfumers are fantastic. Sometimes I forget that’s not background music are almost walk right into them.
I still remember the dread and fear I felt when I first met all the frenzied merchants, hearing his song play in the background, trying to retain what sanity he had left
I found the Page enemy with the flute in Leyndell so unique. The enemies and merchants are cool but this page is the only one that spawns in that little area.
To anyone passing by here, I love reading your comments so much. I wish I could write music for a game like this. If you want to hear some storytelling music, last year I wrote an album titled 'The Untold Story of The Rainmaker', inspired by Dark Souls & Elden Ring. It's been hard to share it with the world due to its narrative nature, that's why I am writing this - but if you have some free time, I'd be so happy to hear your opinions on it. Thank you so much 🤍
I am utterly shocked at the lengths they went to with actually showing the Vibrato on the stringed instrument knowing that only people who hacked the game in this way would ever be able to get close enough to actually see it. Remarkable.
amaría que los instrumentos musicales sean objetos obtenibles y las canciones se puedan aprender como los gestos, que esto tenga efecto en npcs o en el mundo ya seria increíble. además también seria gracioso en las interacciones de multijugador, ya saben podrían armar sus propias bandas xd (espero que se incluya algo así en algún titulo futuro de la franquicia o ya soñando un dlc de elden ring)
The flute... The flute sounds as if someone voice is breaking mid-cry, trying to explain away their own torment without words. The voice breaks, and the obvious cry; sounds like something should be admitted, but not done in words.
I thought it was really cool how the nomadic merchants playing goes so well with the theme of Atlus Plateau. It fit in so well with the vibe and everything that I just mistook the violin bit for being in the soundtrack until I realized that it stopped playing when I left the merchant and then I realized it was coming from the merchant. Very good attention to detail. I just thought it was so cool how you can tell it was written for that theme but they also managed to make it feel like a character is playing along with it
I mean, the attention to the most minute detail on this game, in general all the souls/borne games are so great! They never never let you down but the opposite. All the music in this games are spectacular!
For some reason, right now is when I'm thinking that maybe the ambience music of the Capital is not the game playing it, but its the collective choir of the Envoys stationed all around the perimeter wall
I stumbled upon flute dude in Leyndell by accident. I sat behind him for a good minute or two listening to his rhythm. Reminded me of a snake charmer. Proceeded to backstab him to death 🤣
I enjoyed the flute so much that after the song had completed and I recognized the start of the loop I left him alone and continued to slaughter my way to Margott.
The finger and hand movement on the merchant are somewhat accurate, with the pitch increasing as the fingers get closer to the merchant and even some hand movement during the vibrato!
The frenzied merchant is reminding me of Brook's Binks Sake song, where its a cheery song but the setting and context is heartbreaking😭😭😭 Nomadic Merchant is definitely giving Bloodborne vibes but idk music enought to actually point out how or what song its similar to
They animated the god damn fingers correctly to hit the right notes at the correct time on the frenzied flame merchant song, but they couldn't animate our god damn character to open his mouth when we do shouts or say "Hi" with the wave emote........great i guess :)
The first time I heard the woman bat singing I thought some fair maiden was being held hostage by the bats and the singing was keeping them calm. When I turned around a rock and saw that abomination I said to myself "...... No... No this is not right. I.. I have to kill this..this ... Thing."
